SOPA provides greater protections for targets of online piracy and helps shield American consumers from dangerous counterfeit goods, such as pharmaceuticals.

After consumers complained about high prices in 2000, the government implemented a Regulated Rate Option (RRO), as a means to shield consumers from price volatility.

It also requires the FTC to promulgate rules to shield consumers from unwanted mobile phone spam.

He did his bit to shield consumers from the impact of oil's high run, but couldn't stop state-run oil companies from going into the red for the first time, posting historical quarterly losses.

To shield consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices, the bill creates an independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The price controls are supposed to shield consumers from the nation's rampant inflation, which now averages nearly 1,600 percent annually.

He said regulators should have required price protection to shield consumers from a "double header corporate gouge, where the defenseless customer is paying twice for the same power plants."

Over the last week, high fuel prices have flared as a presidential campaign issue as Democrats and Republicans have traded accusations that neither side has done enough to shield American consumers.

Advocates of the laws say they are glad that states are interested in shielding consumers and Internet service providers from the scourge of junk E-mail, known as spam.

Most nations have decided not to try to shield consumers from higher energy prices.